Innovation Challenge set to award best new technology, business ideas

ANGOLA (01/11/2018) Entries are now being accepted for the fifth annual Innovation Challenge, with cash prizes available for the best ideas and concepts for business and technology.

Sponsored by Trine University's Innovation One and Fifth Third Bank (Central and Northeast Indiana), the contest is open to Trine University students, high school students and community members throughout the greater tri-state area.

For the technology category, participants are encouraged to submit concepts for technological inventions or advances. Participants who enter in the business category should focus on a new business idea or service. Cash prizes will be awarded for first through third place in both categories: $2,500 for first place, $1,000 for second and $500 for third. Prizes will
also be given for best high school idea, best community idea and best university idea. The cash prizes are unrestricted, so winners are allowed to spend the money however they want.

Among the prize-winners in the fourth annual contest was Run in Charge, a business concept providing personalized, data-driven solutions for runners who struggle with injury, developed by mathematics major Brandon Berry. The concept has since advanced to the second round of the McCloskey New Venture Competition hosted by the University of Notre Dame.

Other top projects from 2017 were a device that could be strapped to backpacks and alert authorities when a scream is detected, a web-based repository for educators to develop and use effective homework problems in several subjects, and a vacuum
attachment that allows professionals to remove mold with one tool.

Fifth Third Bank began supporting the five-year challenge in 2013 with a $100,000 gift for awards and scholarships.

There are no entry fees or age restrictions for the Innovation Challenge. The deadline for applying and submitting a project for consideration is March 16. The top 10 ideas will be showcased by the creators at the Innovation Expo in the Fabiani Theatre, located in the Rick L. and Vicki L. James University Center on Trine's campus, on April 20. The top three winners in each category will be announced and awarded that evening as well.

To get an application or for more information, visit www.innovation1.org, call (260) 665-4265 or email blumej@trine.edu.

About Fifth Third Bank

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $142 billion in assets and operates 1,241 full-service Banking Centers, including 95 Bank Mart® locations, most open seven days a week, inside select grocery stores and over 2,500 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, and Investment Advisors. Fifth Third also has an 18.3% interest in Vantiv Holding, LLC. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of March 31, 2016, had $303 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $26 billion for individuals,
corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at www.53.com. Fifth Third's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® Global Select Market under the symbol "FITB." Fifth Third Bank was established in 1858. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.

Join the conversation, #TrineU.

Trine University, an internationally recognized, private, co-educational, residential institution, offers associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in programs for students in engineering, mathematics, science, informatics, business, teacher education, communication, criminal justice, golf management, social sciences and various other fields of study. Trine is a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and
offers 23 varsity sports. Its golf program includes the university-owned 18-hole championship Zollner Golf Course. Founded in 1884 and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org), Trine operates a 450-acre main campus in Angola, Indiana, and education resource centers throughout Indiana and Michigan.